Preliminary Draft, 17 June 2013, subject to change
Math Requirements
Grade of B+ or better in the following two courses:
ECE 8007 - Matrix Theory
CSC 8301 - Design & Analysis of Algorithms
Cybersecurity Discipline Specific Exam
The cybersecurity discipline specific exam
is a written examination for a period not to exceed four hours
in duration.
The exam has the following format:
The student is required to answer 8 questions with at least 2 from
each of 3 subject areas. Some questions may span more
than one subject area, for example a programming problem related to
computer security or networks.
The examination is closed book, closed notes,
and no calculator or computing devices are permitted.
In some cases, reference material may be
provided to the student as an appendix to the exam questions.
Sample problems are generally not provided.
The examination questions are at the MS level,
as represented by the level expected of students who pass
the preparatory courses listed below.
The list of topics is provided below for each subject area.
The examination questions are derived from these lists.
Subject Areas and Topics
Applied Programming: C or Java programming including arrays, pointers,
strings, structures, dynamic memory allocation,
recursion, and list processing. Unix operating system including basic
commands, the file system, system calls, and shell scripts.
Computer Networks: reference models and protocols, signal transmission,
channel access and error control, routing, transport, queuing theory.
Cryptography and Network Security:
cryptography, privacy, and authentication including secret and public
key cryptography, protocols, key management, hash functions, digital
signatures, and secure electronic mail.
Preparatory Courses
ECE 8473 - Unix and C Programming
ECE 7428 - Computer Communication Networks
ECE 8476 - Cryptography & Network Security
References (added 22 Oct 2015)
Notes on network performance analysis, by Dr. Sarvesh Kulkarni:
part 1/2,
part 2/2.